Richest races at Royal Ascot

Royal Ascot is amongst the richest horse racing meetings on the calendar, and here we take a look at the races that offer the most prize money at this prestigious event.

Royal Ascot is one of horse racing’s most prestigious events, and every year it attracts a plethora of racegoers, trainers, horses, and their jockeys to Ascot Racecourse to compete in some of the sport’s most reputable and prestigious races.

Action will of course return to Ascot next month for five days of enthralling racing. Royal Ascot 2025 will get underway on Tuesday 17th June before coming to a close with the fifth and final day Saturday 21st June 2025.

Of course, this iconic festival of racing is not just famous for the superb venue, incredible atmosphere and exciting action. It is also one of the richest horse racing events on the calendar with prize money ranging from hundreds of thousands of pounds to an extraordinary one million for the winner.

The Ascot Gold Cup, won most recently in 2024 by Ryan Moore’s Kyprios, is arguably the headline race of Royal Ascot every year and is amongst the richest races on the schedule.

Here, we are going to take a look at some of the richest races. The prize money on offer in the following races is very high, which highlights the prestige of not only the races but the event itself.

3) King Charles III Stakes, St James’s Palace Stakes, The Gold Cup, Commonwealth Cup & The Coronation Stakes (£650,000)

We start with five races, which are all worth £650,000 each in prize money for the winner: the King Charles III Stakes, the St. James’s Palace Stakes, the Ascot Gold Cup, the Commonwealth Cup, and finally the Coronation Stakes.

Starting with the King Charles III Stakes is five furlongs in length, and it takes place on the opening day of Royal Ascot on 17th June. The most recent running of this race, King Charles III’s second since he ascended to the throne, was won by Asfoora who was ridden by Jockey Oisin Murphy that day.

Taking place over an old mile, the St. James’s Palace Stakes will actually follow the King Charles III Stakes on day one. The winner of this race back in 2024 was Sean Levey’s Rosallion, who managed to fend off stern competition from Henry Longfellow and Metropolitan, who had to settle for second and third place finishes respectively.

Moving on to the most prestigious race of them all at Royal Ascot, the Ascot Gold Cup will of course be taking place once more on the third day of this year’s renewal (Thursday 19th June 2025). 2024 saw the most recent running of this race take place, and it was won by Kyprios, who was ridden by Ryan Moore.

The 2025 Commonwealth Cup will be taking place at Ascot Racecourse on Friday 20th June, the fourth day of racing. The race is set to take place over a total distance of six furlongs, and the winner last year was pre-race favourite Inisherin ridden by Tom Eaves.

Finally, the Coronation Stakes will get underway on day four, and it takes place over a round (old mile). In 2024, the winner was Porta Fortuna, ridden by Tom Marquand.

2) The Queen Anne Stakes (£750,000)

The 2025 Queen Anne Stakes takes place over a straight mile, and it offers the second most prize money of any race at this year’s renewal of Royal Ascot – £750,000. This year’s edition of this race will be the first race on the opening day of the festival – it gets underway on the afternoon of Tuesday 17th June 2025.

The most recent winner of this race back in 2024 was won by Jockey Silvestre de Sousa onboard pre-race favourite Charyn, with Hayley Turner’s Docklands and Tom Marquand’s Maljoom filling the other two spots in the top three in second and third place respectively.

1) Platinum Jubilee Stakes & Prince of Wales’s Stakes  (£1 million)

Two races boast the joint most prize money of any other race at 2025 Royal Ascot. Both the Platinum Jubilee Stakes and the Prince of Wales’s Stakes this year will be worth no less than 1 million pounds for the winner of both races.

Starting with the former, this race will be taking place over the course of six furlongs on the afternoon of Saturday 21st June 2025, the fifth and final day of Royal Ascot. Last year, it was won by Khaadem, ridden by Jockey Oisin Murphy. Swingalong (Clifford Lee) and Mill Stream (William Buick) had to settle for second and third place finishes, respectively.

Moving on to the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, this is a race that will be taking place on the second day of 2025’s Royal Ascot. Taking place over the course of one mile and six furlongs, it will get underway on the afternoon of Wednesday 18th June 2025. In 2024, it was won by Ryan Moore who rode pre-race favourite Auguste Rodin, to victory ahead of Zarakem (2nd) and Mickael Barzalona’s Horizon Dore (3rd).

Excitement and anticipation for the 2025 renewal of the iconic and illustrious Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse, is already building.

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